Everyone knew this would come soon after that temper tantrum of a Vet Day speech yesterday by naked emperor Bush.

President Bush and his national security adviser have answered critics of the Iraq war in recent days with a two-pronged argument: that Congress saw the same intelligence the administration did before the war, and that independent commissions have determined that the administration did not misrepresent the intelligence.

Neither assertion is wholly accurate.

As usual Pincus throws a logic bomb and, like a super hero, kills fallacies and half-truths wherever they appear; usually from the lips of Republican leaders.

Posted by Geoff

Dan Bartlett, Counselor to the President, was just on the News Hour and just said something like this: 'the president is going to show America that he can walk and chew gum in the coming weeks'!!

How funny is that?

Posted by Geoff

Here are some quotes from a John Edwards speech at UNC-Chappel Hill, and the next edition of the nation.

In front of a packed house inChappel Hill, speaking of the anti-Vietnam and anti-apartheid students who spoke out whiler the leaders did nothing, something that is neaded now with the internment camps, indiscriminate incendiary attacks on populations, proliferastion of torture, and freak obsession with oil: " These folks need a champion--and not just me. They need you. You can make ending poverty in America the cause of your generation. It's the right thing to do. This is not about charity--it's about justice!"

speaking of reality politics in America today: "I think in our effort to be elected, we've become minimalists, tinkering around the edges--Our tax cut is better than yours, or, We'll give you smaller class sizes," he says. "That's not what the country wants. We've got to give the American people something big and important to be unified by. Republicans use big things to divide America. I think we can use big things to unite America."

on popverty as a political tool: "Look, to be honest, it's all very personal for me. I've seen everything, been everything, from poor to lower middle class, then regular middle class and then just skyrocketing, you know, when I was a lawyer. What happened to me is that I started thinking as I got older about this. I saw some of the people I'd grown up with going the other way, getting in trouble, having a really terrible time getting by. These were my friends when I was growing up and here I was, doing great. It was no great policy revelation, just a sense that something was wrong, that, Why am I the one who's gotten the good luck and they didn't?"

and for honesty: "I voted for the resolution," he says. "It was a mistake." So far, so good. But he goes on, "The hard question is, What do you do now? Looking back, it's easy to say that it was wrong and based on false information. Anybody who doesn't admit that isn't honest, and that's the truth." So what now? "I myself feel conflicted about it," Edwards replies. "But we have to find ways--and I don't mean just yanking all the troops tomorrow--but we have to find ways to start bringing our troops home. Our presence there is clearly contributing to the problem." So does he agree with Senator Russ Feingold that Washington should set a withdrawal deadline? "No. Even if we're going to say that internally, that we're gonna have our troops out by X date, there's no reason to announce that to the world. I think that's probably a mistake." He doesn't agree, either, with Senator Clinton's call for more US troops to finish the job? "No sir!" Edwards says, sitting straight up in his chair. "Did she really say that?"

Finally a Dem with some you-know-whats and honesty too boot.

Posted by Geoff

Man the Repubs are having some shitty luck, I fear how they may react.

A rift in the Republican Party escalated into a brawl Tuesday night after election results were in, witnesses and participants in the incident said Wednesday.

David Martin, a member of the Republican town committee, said he filed complaints with the police Wednesday against Robert Argazzi, the father of Councilman Paul C. Argazzi. Martin, 27, claims Robert Argazzi, 67, "went bonkers," lunged over some chairs, grabbed Martin by the throat and threatened to kill him after the Republicans, who had gathered at the Spartans Club on High Street, learned they had been defeated. Martin had abrasions on his neck Wednesday evening.

Posted by Geoff

Not Cheney or Rove. But a guy named Ahmad Chalabi. Who is he? Well, in the generalist of terms one could say that is a thief and a spy. Oh yeah, he was the hand picked president of Iraq pre-war, before the flowers and candy line of thought went to Hell, and the sitting Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq . So as expected, he gets the ear of Dick Cheney, national security adviser Stephen Hadley, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Treasury Secretary John Snow, Secretary of State Condabl-bla-bla Rice, et cetera. To top all that, he is scheduled to speak at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank that gave us the Project for a New American Century (which translates to war crimes, torture, and oil). They, of course, backed the war on Iraq.

None of this is false, so how can this be? This man is still wanted for a fraud conviction in Jordan. He is the subject of an "open" investigation at the FBI for what appears to be suspicion of espionage against the United States for Iran, and now he is being given an official reception by the US government at the level of Rice and Cheney? He should be cuffed and sent to Jordan for some of that Black-ops, undercover, internment camp, torture that we all know is going on.

Posted by Geoff

Come, all ye sinners, and cleanse yourself of Exposure to the
Right-Wing World at this week's service of Drinking Liberally
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promoting democracy one pint at a time.

Voodoo Lounge
15 Magnolia Road
West Ashley
5:30 until 'round 8 or 9 or so
Every Thursday Evening
FREE PARKING BEHIND THE BAR

Posted by Geoff

By Juan Cole, read here. Sin number 1...

Pride. On May 2, 2003, Bush landed on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit to declare the end of major combat in Iraq. From the staged character of the event (the aircraft carrier was just offshore and there was no need to fly out to it), to the famous codpiece flight suit (which was intended to exude machismo), to the banner "Mission Accomplished," the entire event was suffused with overweening pride.


Major combat was, of course, not then over, and is not over in fall of 2005. Bush compounded his pridefulness with a speech on July 2, 2003, when he addressed the growing guerrilla movement in Iraq and said, "Bring'em on!"



This unfortunate taunting of a deadly and determined enemy was the farthest thing possible from either statesmanship or the gravity with which a commander in chief must view the dangers encompassing his troops.

It was pride that led Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz to believe that they could occupy Iraq with a relatively small military force, and could then transform the country without facing any significant opposition. It was pride that led them to disregard the advice of distinguished military men such as Gen. Eric Shinseki and Gen. Anthony Zinni.

Go read the rest.

Posted by Geoff

Blowback is best defined as the resentment created by X on Y, causing some reaction by Y to X.

So assuming the rioting French are mostly Arab. Could this be a problem not of a few youths getting killed running from the cops, but surfacing anger at a western government for its policies (the French) and what is perceived, by Muslims, as western aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan that aims to weaken the Arab world? Protestors protesting the deaths of two youths don't shout "It's Baghdad here" and "jihad" do they? That's somewhat odd. Of course a prominent politician publicly saying essentially, 'bring it on' doesn't work well in the Muslim world, but I sense that there is a bigger picture here.

Posted by Geoff

In America we have the Downing Street Memo, and the yet unresolved leaking of sensitive data to our media in attempt to intimidate dissent. In Italy last week it became clear that the Niger forgeries were indeed fake and not an accident, and it had been claimed that the US was warned by Italy as to the validity of the documents; of course money was involved. Now, with the help of Labour MPs, a new (or not new but strenghtened) front determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, a mystery that most know the answer to but ignore it for partisan reasons. The mystery is, how did they do it. How did Bush and Blair get this war? In America, it has been rough. Media has failed, heck they are as responsible for this war as the Dems who voted to give Bush exclusive powers in the lead up to Iraq II. However, in Britain, things are different. Blair is nowhere near as dictatorial as the Bush regime and has a more concentrated opposition in the House. Could Blair be going down? Probably not but for what its worth

TONY BLAIR is set to face an unprecedented parliamentary inquiry into his conduct in the run-up to the Iraq war.

A coalition of Tory and Labour MPs is to table a motion to set up a Commons committee to examine "“the conduct of ministers" both before and after the war. They believe they need the support of about 30 Labour rebels to succeed.

The committee, comprising seven privy counsellors, would have the power to see all sensitive documents and call any British witnesses, including intelligence chiefs.

The failure to plan for the aftermath is likely to be at the heart of the committee'’s inquiries now that Iraq is in the grip of a violent insurgency, says the Tory MP Douglas Hogg...

"“Information that has emerged, in particular the memos leaked to The Sunday Times, strengthen overwhelmingly the case for an inquiry into the judgments of ministers, and in particular the prime minister, in the run-up to war and thereafter," he said.

Posted by Geoff